"Hmm..." The girl was also afraid of these gangsters, so she clung tightly to her boyfriend's arm and didn't dare to say a word.
Hearing what they said, Xiang Yu and the others all looked towards that corner.
Several young men with dyed hair surrounded and shoved someone. After saying a few words, they burst into laughter. The laughter was so loud that several girls in front couldn't help but move closer to each other, too scared to look in that direction anymore.
When something like this happens, Xiang Yu is always eager to get involved, and he walks over there without saying a word.
Xu Lin knew what Xiang Yu wanted to do, and followed him without saying a word.
Gu Chen followed Xiang Yu the most closely. He didn't know about Xiang Yu's past entrapment in City B. At this moment, he was praising his deskmate in his heart.
That's great, that's wonderful. They don't complain when they see injustice, but they take action when necessary.
Gu Chen really admired Xiang Yu's chivalrous character and wanted to be like him. Unfortunately, although he was strong, he couldn't fight. If there were only one or two people in the situation, he could go and help. But if there were many people, he could only help by calling the police or mobilizing the onlookers to stop the fight.
"Wow, you're so cool, deskmate," Gu Chen whispered quickly in Xiang Yu's ear. "Do you want me to call the police?"
Xiang Yu said, "...No need." If a fight breaks out later, and the police come and see the other side's injuries, he might also have to go in and write a self-criticism.
"Ha, you even called the police, what a coward."
Upon hearing this, Xu Lin chuckled. Gu Chen didn't react, but Li Yifan, who was following behind Xu Lin, awkwardly exited the dialer interface.
At this age, people care about their reputation. Li Yifan noticed that there were quite a few people over there, at least two or three more than their side. Although his cousin's reputation as a school bully was still there, Liu Hu's group of students were definitely not on the same level as these hooligans.
Feeling uncertain, he couldn't help but ask Xiang Yu, "Brother, is it really okay not to call the police?"
"Stay away, it'll be fine," Xiang Yu reassured him.
"I won't dodge." Li Yifan felt he could at least take on one of them, and seeing the thugs eyeing the thinnest one, he said, "I'll at least hold one off for you."
"Hmm." Xiang Yu was very confident in his fighting skills; he was certain that these guys wouldn't be able to hurt a single hair on the heads of the three people behind him.
-System: I'm tired of saying that line, "God of War, White Tiger."
As they got closer, Xiang Yu inexplicably felt that one or two of the thugs looked familiar.
The four stopped a meter away from the thugs, and none of them spoke.
The people on the other side of the elevator were all looking this way, causing quite a commotion.
The leader of the thugs had just taken the wallet that the unlucky guy in front of him was tremblingly handing over. When he opened it, he saw that the bills were either green or purple, and the largest denomination was only twenty. He couldn't help but click his tongue and kicked the guy in a fit of temper.
The boy was kicked to the ground and didn't dare to stand up. He said in a trembling voice, "That's...that's all."
The leader of the thugs spat at him, took the cigarette from his mouth, and flicked the ash onto his head. Just as he was about to speak, he heard his underlings shouting behind him.
"Who the hell let you come here?!"
"Tsk, who's blind?" The leader of the thugs took a drag of his cigarette, turned around disdainfully to exhale the smoke, and choked on it when he saw the seemingly weak-looking boy at the head of the group.
"Cough cough cough!" White smoke drifted out little by little, looking quite comical.
These lackeys were newly recruited. Seeing their boss spit out a mouthful, they habitually started looking for trouble, first picking on Xiang Yu, who was standing at the front and seemed the easiest to bully.
"You son of a bitch—Ouch, boss, why did you hit me?"
I fucking beat you up, you deserve it!
The leader of the thugs withdrew his hand from the back of his henchman's head and pushed them aside: "Get out of the way! Get out of the way right now!"
He walked up to Xiang Yu, took out a cigarette and a lighter from his pocket, pulled one out and handed it to Xiang Yu, saying with a forced smile, "Brother, I heard from the people at No. 2 Middle School that you transferred schools, didn't you?"
[Author's Note: Gu Chen: My deskmate is so handsome and cool!]
Chapter Thirty-Two: Gu Chen - I Want to Understand His Past
Chapter Thirty-Two: Gu Chen: I Want to Understand His Past
The rapid change in the situation was unexpected by everyone present. The thug who had just been causing trouble for Xiang Yu was shocked to see his boss acting like such a lackey.
Xiang Yu glanced at the cigarette in the other person's hand but didn't take it.
When the leader of the thugs saw Xiang Yu staring at him like that, he broke out in a cold sweat.
"Big, Big Brother." He couldn't control his fear of Xiang Yu. He should have been showing off in front of these newly recruited underlings, but he couldn't help stuttering a couple of times. He put away his cigarette, stubbed out the one he was holding in his mouth, and put it aside. He smiled ingratiatingly and said, "I was just joking with him. We're old acquaintances."
After saying that, she went over to help the bullied boy up, reached out to brush the cigarette ash off his head, and put the wallet back into the boy's pocket.
"Brother, I was just kidding, don't mind me." The leader of the thugs tried his best to act familiar, but heaven knows his palms were sweaty. He patted the boy's shoulder and wiped all the sweat on the boy's clothes.
The boy looked up at Xiangyu's side, his gaze flickering behind his black-rimmed glasses.
Xiang Yu felt that he looked familiar, but he never socialized at No. 2 High School and couldn't remember who he was. He guessed that he was probably a classmate he had met before.
"You still haven't paid me back the 150 yuan you borrowed from me last time." The bespectacled man lowered his head, not daring to look the leader of the thugs in the eye.
"Damn it—" The leader of the thugs was about to curse when he met Xiang Yu's gaze and changed his tone, gritting his teeth and forcing a smile: "Just remembered, wait, I'll pay you back!" He reluctantly rummaged in his shirt pocket for a while, pulled out a hundred-yuan note, then rummaged in his pants pocket, finally pulling out a crumpled twenty-yuan note. He then combined it with the notes of his henchmen, making a total of fifty, and slapped it into the bespectacled man's hand.
"Here you go." Upon hearing this, the bespectacled man visibly trembled, but still clenched his fist and stuffed the money into his pocket.
Seeing his miserly behavior, the leader of the thugs moved his lips, cursed him a few times in his heart, then turned to Xiang Yu and changed to a servile look, "Big brother, I have something to do, can I go first?"
Xiang Yu turned her head away from him, a system notification popping up in her mind.
System: Morality Index +10
The leader of the thugs bowed and scraped, saying, "Well, I'll be going now, little brother. We'll never see each other again, no, goodbye." He then shoved his henchman who was blocking his way, yelling, "What are you standing there for! Didn't you see our boss said we could leave?"
The thugs lined up in a single file and walked out about ten meters from the corner, pretending to be calm. As soon as they left the ten-meter circle, the leader of the thugs turned tail and ran as if he were being chased by a tiger.
His underlings, not understanding what was going on, could only follow along, asking Xiang Yu about his background as they ran. A few of them, who had previously followed the leader, knew a little bit about him and talked as they ran, their footsteps and conversations gradually fading into the distance.
"Holy crap?" Li Yifan hadn't dared to breathe loudly since the beginning, but seeing how awesome his cousin was, he rushed to Xiang Yu's side as soon as the thugs ran away: "Brother, are those thugs your underlings?"
"No." Xiang Yu took out her phone and glanced at the time: "Let's go, the movie is about to start."
The four turned to leave when they heard a cold snort from behind them.
"As expected, snakes and rats are in the same nest, and trash is mixed together with trash."
"..." Xiang Yu frowned, turned around at the sound, and saw that the bespectacled man was still there. He took out the money that the leader of the thugs had just given him, stacked it up one by one, and put it into his wallet. He looked up and saw Xiang Yu and his group looking at him.
Xu Lin was particularly large and was the current school bully at No. 2 Middle School. The bespectacled boy immediately shut up after being glared at by him.
Xu Lin, already enraged by his earlier words, erupted in anger upon seeing his current state: "You fucking scared?! Say what you just said again?!"
"Linzi." Xiang Yu stopped the rampaging Xu Lin.
He remembered. Although he didn't remember the name, he remembered who the boy was.
Xiangyu's original school, No. 2 Middle School, was a private school with a serious polarization in academic performance. In order to improve the college entrance examination pass rate, the school set up high scholarships and grants to attract students with excellent academic performance but poor family conditions. Xiangyu's family was not poor, and his grades had always been in the top three of the grade, so he had been receiving the scholarship money all along.
This bespectacled boy was a top student from a poor family who came to the class hoping to get scholarships and grants. However, he always came one grade behind Xiang Yu. When Xiang Yu was first, he was second; when Xiang Yu was second, he was third. In short, before Xiang Yu transferred schools, the bespectacled boy never surpassed him. The difference between the first, second, and third-class scholarships was almost a thousand yuan, which was a considerable sum for him. In addition, Xiang Yu had a reputation as a school bully, which made him even more resentful of him.
"Everyone in the school knows what happened to you at No. 2 Middle School. Don't think you can cover it up just because you have powerful connections! Let me tell you, heaven is watching what people do!"
Xu Lin: "Fuck your mother! You dare to say that!" He shoved Xiang Yu aside, rushed over, grabbed the bespectacled man by the collar, and punched him.
The bespectacled man watched as the fist swung towards his face, but stopped just before it touched him.
Gu Chen: "Ask us first, don't hit anyone!"
Gu Chen grabbed Xu Lin's forearm, preventing him from throwing a punch. He knew his deskmate was upset by what others were saying, but continuing to fight like this wouldn't solve anything.
Xiang Yu didn't want to get involved: "Linzi, let's go first, ignore him."
Despite his fear, the bespectacled man sensed a surge of confidence when he saw Xiang Yu blocking Xu Lin's path, realizing the man was guilty. Seeing that Xu Lin was about to leave, he immediately shouted.
"Teacher Zhao, a top-level teacher, was only discharged from the hospital after you beat him up. Don't you feel any guilt at all?!"
"..." Xiang Yu heard that he had already revealed this matter, and his sharp gaze swept over him.
That look in his eyes is like that of a tiger hunting its prey; if you're stared at, it feels like you're about to be devoured.
The bespectacled man was so startled by that glance that he froze on the spot, too afraid to move.
Xiang Yu stared at him and said, word by word, "I hit him, and he deserved it."
Due to some delay, the movie had already started playing when the four of them sat down in the theater.
Li Yifan always made sure to buy plenty of supplies before going to the movies, like popcorn and soda, but now the four of them sat empty-handed, staring at the shaky screen, all looking distracted.
There were many moviegoers around, and when the movie reached its most exciting part, there was a chorus of cheers.
Xu Lin found the noise annoying, but fearing it would spoil the mood of the group watching the movie, he excused himself to go out for some fresh air.
Xu Lin left the theater, bought a pack of cigarettes and a lighter at the front desk, and went to the theater's open-air terrace to get some fresh air. Just as he lit the cigarette, someone came up next to him.
Xu Lin glanced at him and offered him a cigarette: "Want one?"
Gu Chen said, "I don't smoke."
Xu Lin glanced at him but didn't insist. He held the cigarette in his hand and smoked one after another without saying a word.
Seeing that he had drawn the third one, Gu Chen finally couldn't help but ask, "Can you tell me about my deskmate's past? Did that boy just now know him? What happened with hitting the teacher?"
Gu Chen has always been a model student with impeccable morals and a strong sense of patriotism.
Hitting a teacher? It's no exaggeration to say that Gu Chen has only ever seen such a thing on the news or television.
Gu Chencai was still recovering from what had just happened. He couldn't believe that his kind-hearted deskmate had actually beaten a teacher at their old school and even hospitalized the teacher.
Could it be that this is why you transferred schools?
Xu Lin found it amusing, smoking a cigarette as he looked at him. If the other person had asked him that question this morning, he would have definitely retorted.
What's it to you?
But things are different now. What just happened has also impacted him, and he feels restless and anxious. To some extent, he wants to vent his negative emotions.
Xu Lin took a drag of his cigarette and began to recount the messy things that had happened at No. 2 Middle School.
[Author's Note: Xiang Yu: It's a long story, so let's not go into it.]
Chapter Thirty-Three: Xiang Yu told you, can I trust you?
Chapter Thirty-Three: In a Corner: I've told you, can I trust you?
Xu Lin didn't recount all the messy things that happened, but mainly focused on Xiang Yu and his short, carefree days at No. 2 High School since starting high school.
Xu Lin spoke frankly about everything, from defeating all the troublemakers on campus to eventually becoming the school bully himself, to eradicating all the hooligans outside the school so that they would avoid him altogether. However, he remained completely open and honest about the most crucial matter.
Xu Lin slowly exhaled the smoke from his mouth and said, "It happened on the first day of school. I don't know the specifics. I asked Yu'er many times, but she refused to say. The school only reported that it was caused by a private conflict between a teacher and a student."